Any person, creature, deity or extraplanar realm inDungeons
& Dragonscan have one of the nine alignments.

Lawful Good

Lawful Good is known as the
"Saintly" or "Crusader" alignment. A Lawful Good character
typically acts with compassion, and always with honor and a sense of duty. A
Lawful Good nation would consist of a well-organized government that works for
the benefit of its citizens. Lawful Good characters include righteous knights,
paladins, and most dwarves. Lawful Good creatures include the noble golden
dragons.

Lawful Good characters, especially
paladins, may sometimes find themselves faced with the dilemma of whether to
obey law or good when the two conflict—for example, upholding a sworn oath when
it would lead innocents to come to harm—or conflicts between two orders, such
as between their religious law and the law of the local ruler

Batman,Dick
TracyandIndiana
Jonesare cited as examples of lawful good
characters.

Neutral Good

Neutral Good is known as the
"Benefactor" alignment. A Neutral Good character is guided by his
conscience and typically acts altruistically, without regard for or against
Lawful precepts such as rules or tradition. A Neutral Good character has no
problems with co-operating with lawful officials, but does not feel beholden to
them. In the event that doing the right thing requires the bending or breaking
of rules, they do not suffer the same inner conflict that a Lawful Good
character would.

Examples of Neutral Good characters
includeZorroandSpider-Man.

Chaotic Good

Chaotic Good is known as the
"Beatific," "Rebel," or "Cynic" alignment. A
Chaotic Good character favors change for a greater good, disdains bureaucratic
organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and places a high
value on personal freedom, not only for oneself, but for others as well. They
always intend to do the right thing, but their methods are generally
disorganized and often out of alignment with the rest of society. They may
create conflict in a team if they feel they are being pushed around, and often
view extensive organization and planning as pointless, preferring to improvise.

Lawful Neutral is called the
"Judge" or "Disciplined" alignment. A Lawful Neutral
character typically believes strongly in Lawful concepts such as honor, order,
rules and tradition, and often follows a personal code. A Lawful Neutral society
would typically enforce strict laws to maintain social order, and place a high
value on traditions and historical precedent. Examples of Lawful Neutral
characters might include a soldier who always follows orders, a judge or
enforcer that adheres mercilessly to the word of the law, and a disciplined
monk.

Characters of this alignment are neutral
with regard to good and evil. This does not mean that Lawful Neutral characters
are amoral or immoral, or do not have a moral compass, but simply that their
moral considerations come a distant second to what their code, tradition, or
law dictates. They typically have a strong ethical code, but it is primarily
guided by their system of belief, not by a commitment to good or evil.

James Bond,Odysseus, and Sanjuro fromYojimboare considered as Lawful
Neutral.

Neutral

Neutral alignment,
also referred to as True Neutral or Neutral Neutral,
is called the "Undecided" or "Nature's" alignment. This
alignment represents Neutral on both axes, and tends not to feel strongly
towards any alignment. A farmer whose primary overriding concern is to feed his
family is of this alignment. Most animals, lacking the capacity for moral
judgment, are of this alignment since they are guided by instinct rather than
conscious decision. Many roguish characters who play
all sides to suit themselves are also of this alignment (such as a weapon
merchant with no qualms selling his wares to both sides of a war for a profit).

Some Neutral characters, rather than
feeling undecided, are committed to a balance between the alignments. They may
see good, evil, law and chaos as simply prejudices and
dangerous extremes.Mordenkainenis one such character
who takes this concept to the extreme, dedicating himself to a detached
philosophy of neutrality to ensure that no one alignment or power takes control
of theFlanaess.

Druids frequently follow this True Neutral
dedication to balance, and underAdvanced Dungeons &
Dragonsrules were required to be this alignment.
In an example given in the 2nd EditionPlayer's Handbook, a typical druid might
fight against a band of marauding gnolls, only to
switch sides to save the gnolls' clan from being
totally exterminated.

Chaotic Neutral is called the
"Anarchist" or "Free Spirit" alignment. A character of this
alignment is an individualist who follows his or her own heart, and generally
shirks rules and traditions. Although they promote the ideals of freedom, it is
their own freedom that comes first. Good and Evil come second to their need to
be free, and the only reliable thing about them is how totally unreliable they
are. Chaotic Neutral characters are free-spirited and do not enjoy the
unnecessary suffering of others, but if they join a team, it is because that
team's goals happen to coincide with their own at the moment. They invariably
resent taking orders and can be very selfish in their pursuit of personal
goals. A Chaotic Neutral character does not have to be an aimless wanderer;
they may have a specific goal in mind, but their methods of achieving that goal
are often disorganized, unorthodox, or entirely unpredictable.

A subset of Chaotic Neutral is:
"strongly Chaotic Neutral"; describing a character who behaves
chaotically to the point of appearing insane. Characters of this type may
regularly change their appearance and attitudes for the sake of change and
intentionally disrupt organizations for the sole reason of disrupting a lawful
institution. Characters of this type include theXaositectsfrom thePlanescapesetting, andHennetfrom the third editionPlayer's
Handbook.
InAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons, Chaotic Neutral was
mistakenly assumed to refer to this subset.

Lawful Evil is referred to as the
"Dominator" or "Diabolic" alignment. Characters of this
alignment see a well-ordered system as being easier to exploit, and show a
combination of desirable and undesirable traits; while they usually obey their
superiors and keep their word, they care nothing for the rights and freedoms of
other individuals and are not averse to twisting the rules to work in their
favor. Examples of this alignment include tyrants, devils, undiscriminating
mercenary types who have a strict code of conduct, and loyal soldiers who enjoy
the act of killing.

Like Lawful Good Paladins, Lawful Evil
characters may sometimes find themselves faced with the dilemma of whether to
obey law or evil when the two conflict. However, their issues with Law versus
Evil are more concerned with "Will I get caught?" versus "How
does this benefit me?"

Neutral Evil is called the
"Malefactor" alignment. Characters of this alignment are typically
selfish and have no qualms about turning on their allies-of-the-moment, and
usually make allies primarily to further their own goals. They have no
compunctions about harming others to get what they want, but neither will they
go out of their way to cause carnage or mayhem when they see no direct benefit
to it. They abide by laws for only as long as it is convenient for them. A
villain of this alignment can be more dangerous than either Lawful or Chaotic
Evil characters, since she or he is neither bound by any sort of honor or
tradition nor disorganized and pointlessly violent.

Examples are an assassin who has little
regard for formal laws but does not needlessly kill, a henchman who plots
behind her or his superior's back, or a mercenary who switches sides if made a
better offer.

Chaotic Evil is referred to as the
"Destroyer" or "Demonic" alignment. Characters of this
alignment tend to have no respect for rules, other people's lives, or anything
but their own desires, which are typically selfish and cruel. They set a high
value on personal freedom, but do not have any regard for the lives or freedom
of other people. They do not work well in groups, as they resent being given
orders, and usually behave themselves only out of fear of punishment.

It is not compulsory for a Chaotic Evil
character to be constantly performing sadistic acts just for the sake of being evil, or constantly disobeying orders just for the sake of
causing chaos. They do however enjoy the suffering of others, and view honor
and self-discipline as weaknesses.Serial
killersand monsters of limited intelligence are
typically Chaotic Evil.

Carl DenhamfromKing
KongandRiddickfromPitch
Blackare Chaotic Evil.

Variants

In addition, there are also blended or
"tendency" alignments that exist between the basic nine, bringing the
total of alignment combinations up to seventeen. These include Neutral Good with
either Lawful or Chaotic tendencies, Lawful Neutral with either Good or Evil
tendencies, Chaotic Neutral with either Good or Evil tendencies, and Neutral
Evil with either Lawful or Chaotic tendencies.